Category: Culture and History

Visiting Croatia’s Mighty Klis Fortress

For two thousand years, Croatia’s Klis Fortress (Kliška Tvrđava) has held a coveted position among Central Dalmatia‘s craggy landscape. The fortress has been the scene of dramatic battles over the millennia. In more recent years, it served as one of the filming locations for season 4 of Game of Thrones. Given its fabulous setting and…
The Art of Making Croatian Filigree Jewelry – Split Croatia

When he was just 13 years old, Split jeweler Viktor Čivljak started learning the fine art of making filigree jewelry from his father, a second-generation jeweler. Today, the 73-year-old master jeweler incorporates breathtaking designs into entirely-handmade brooches, bracelets, earrings, hair pins, pendants and rings. Seemingly spun out of delicate silver thread, Viktor also creates cuff-links, decorative spoons…
Split, Croatia in Black and White

One of our first nights in Split, an older gentleman dressed in a trench-coat approached us on the cobbled streets of the city’s old town. “May I help you with something?” he asked in polished English that was subtly embellished with a Croatian accent. We explained that we were not lost, and that we were…
The Fountains of Dubrovnik, Croatia

With stunning seaside views and streets overflowing with visitors, it might be easy to overlook Dubrovnik’s impressive Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Yet Dubrovnik’s quirky maskerons and fanciful flourishes adorning palaces and cathedrals, are the city’s defining elements, and they are details in which to delight. When it was a powerful city-state that rivaled the Republic…
Inside Diocletian’s Palace: A Walking Tour in Split, Croatia

In Split, Croatia, residents’ ancestries can be just as intriguing as the remnants of the city’s Roman palace — something that we discovered on a superb walking tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our host for the afternoon, history-teacher-turned-guide, Dino Ivančić, exuded passion for Split’s history, yet we found that he’s rather modest about…
The Windows of Diocletian’s Palace – Split, Croatia

Split, Croatia is the stuff of explorers’ dreams. Situated along the sparkling Adriatic Sea and crowned by the Palace of Roman Emperor Diocletian, its Old Town features maze-like passageways and weathered limestone buildings and lanes. In the Fourth Century AD, Roman Emperor Diocletian had his retirement palace built here. Emperor Diocletian indeed recognized the good life. In…